Letters: Growing a culture of safety
Growing a culture of safety
The e-mail from my sixth-grade daughter came at 8:54 a.m.: her school was “locked down.”
My heart skipped a beat. My mind, racing with fear, went to the worst scenarios (school shooting).
My wife and I flooded my daughter with emails, desperate for reassurance. Are you okay? Do you feel safe? Can you share any more details?
The teacher had assured the class a school-wide hold was in place, the ‘bare minimum’ response to an unspecified threat, our daughter wrote. But it was an hour before we received notification from the Ames Middle School Principal.
It was a 'non-imminent threat,' it said, and referenced an altercation. By afternoon, the Ames Police released more information: the lockdown was a response to a fight in the cafeteria involving both students and adults.
While this incident was resolved without grave consequences, it sheds light on a disturbing reality. Across the nation, parents are faced with far graver situations, their children's safety in jeopardy within the very institutions meant to protect and educate them. While we were 'lucky' this time, the frequency of such incidents is alarming. According to Celia Brocker of the Ames Tribune (3/8/2024), the Ames Police Department has received calls to the high school and middle school and the immediate area over 700 times this school year alone. Dr. Julious Lawson, the Ames superintendent, later challenged the 700 number — but regardless if it’s 700 police interventions in the Ames schools this year, or 70, or 7 , we can agree, it’s too many.
This brings me to two urgent challenges for the Ames School Board. With sincere thanks to our school leaders for their commitment to reducing violence in our schools, there is still work that must be done.
First, we need a rapid response communication system. Drawing inspiration from weather or hospital alert systems, this platform should keep parents and community members promptly informed during emergencies.
Second, and more crucially, this system should become unnecessary. The true measure of success would be achieving a school year with zero student harm, and zero calls for police intervention. Mary Greeley Medical Center, where I work, has a stated goal of 'zero patient harm' that inspires my vision for the Ames schools. Anything short of zero is unacceptable.
Building and growing a culture of safety, discipline, and accountability is non-negotiable. Child psychologists universally agree that safety is foundational. Without safety, effective learning is impossible.
The 2024 Ames Community School District survey practically begs for safety — only 27% of Ames students agree with the statement “District schools are safe.” Further, only 40% of teachers and 46% of support staff support believe district schools are safe, which includes responses from the elementary schools.
Iowa lawmakers support safe schools. The Iowa Legislature passed the Teacher Empowerment bill in 2023 permitting school districts to expel students with three disciplinary offenses.
Let's strive for a future where our children's education is not overshadowed by fears for their safety. It's a lofty goal, but one worth pursuing for the well-being of every student in the Ames School District.
No parent should have an awful hour like the one we had that day. No student should have to send such a message.
Doug Lake
Ames
Freedom of religion
We, the undersigned members of the Ames Area Religious Leaders Association urge Governor Reynolds to veto the “Freedom of Religion” bill. It is an alarming day in Iowa when the passage of the religious exemptions legislation inserts discrimination into Iowa law. The bill passed by the Iowa Legislature will harm the LGBTQ and other marginalized communities in our state.
Legalizing discrimination through religious exemptions creates the opportunity for one person to discriminate against another person using religious freedom as justification for that discrimination.
Religious freedom is one of our country’s most fundamental rights and is already protected. There is no rationale for legislation that misuses religious freedom as a means to justify discrimination against others.
No person should be allowed to use their faith to impose their beliefs on another person, or to take away their rights, which this legislation will allow. When religious freedom is legitimized as a means to discriminate and take away the civil rights of some citizens, then everyone loses and true religious freedom is in jeopardy.
Rev. Deb Hill-Davis, Unity Church of Ames
Rev. Dr. Brett Becker, Collegiate Presbyterian Church, Ames
Rev. Jen Hibben, Collegiate Presbyterian Church, Ames
Rev. A. J. Galazen, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ames
Rabbi Barbara Block, Ames Jewish Congregation
Martin Edelson, President, Ames Jewish Congregation
Rev. Betsy Thompson, Ames United Church of Christ
Rev. Hannah Hanover, Ames United Church of Christ
Rev. Lewis Cox, Campus Minister, Ames Collegiate United Methodist Church/ Wesley Foundation
Rev. Dr. Mary Lauritzen Bellon, Ames Collegiate United Methodist Church/Wesley Foundation
David Hansen, Ames Friends Meeting
Rev. Fred Lewis, retired United Methodist Minister
Rev. Mary Jane Button-Harrison, First Christian Church, Ames
Rev. Sonja Gerstenberger, St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church
Rev. Russell J.A. Melby, Retired ELCA Pastor, Member Bethesda Lutheran Church, Ames
Rev. Daishin McCabe, Soto Zen Buddhism
Area Education Agencies
Our Area Education Agencies provide services that are immensely important to Iowa's education system. Proposed legislation for revisions of our AEAs should not be undertaken lightly or in haste. In a letter to all Iowa legislators, a group of superintendents expressed deep concern about the proposed changes, stating “the value of the AEA system as designed is that it is a cooperative that ensures that every school district, regardless of size or location, has access to the services it needs to serve students. Rural school districts, in particular, rely heavily on AEAs for critical support.” The need for this overhaul is based in part on a report by an outside consultant hired by the state, but according to the Des Moines Register, that report cited what some considered questionable data, such as Iowa’s per pupil spending. Ted Stilwell, former Iowa Department of Education director, stated the test score comparisons didn’t account for many variables, including how various states define disabilities. There are many calls for delaying any legislation on AEAs until the state has conducted a thorough and transparent review of the education system, involving all stakeholders. Iowans deserve better than poorly thought through and hastily implemented legislation that can have such a huge impact on so many. Please contact your legislators in the Iowa House and Senate and urge them to delay implementing any changes to AEA until such a review can be conducted.
Barb Wheelock and Ralph RosenbergMembers of PRO Iowa 24, a group of concerned rural Iowans from Greene, Guthrie, Boone, Story and Dallas Counties
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Letters: Growing a culture of safety
